Social engineering question?

[Jess]

I was at the store the other day, and noticed for the millionth time that there are aisles for girls' toys and aisles for boys' toys. In the aisle for girls, there are dolls, play makeup, and princess gear. The toy boxes show girls playing with the toys and there is so much pink everywhere it is blinding at first. In the aisle for boys, there are dolls, excuse me, action figures from Tv shows which feature a lot of violence, those little army men and tanks, etc. All the boxes show boys playing with the toys.

Is this social engineering, or is it only social engineering if the aisles were made gender neutral?
Merry Christmas, Twinny.

[The Laughing Santa]

Everything is social engineering, just not every engineer knows what they are doing. The ones in question however do. War is no longer fought for freedom, it is fought for profit. That is why it is necessary to convince this generation that fighting them is fun, as they have no other purpose to do so.

They take our tongues and give us guns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7q2CocZWnQ

[My Evil Twin]

war did not "just" become fun, boys were programed for war my whole life. those standard gender "appropriate" toys being marketed toward the "expected" genders...
*stop, think, define*

Social engineering is a discipline in social science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behaviors on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups. In the political arena, the counterpart of social engineering is political engineering.

For various reasons, the term has been imbued with negative connotations. However, virtually all law and governance has the effect of seeking to change behavior and could be considered "social engineering" to some extent. Prohibitions on murder, rape, suicide and littering are all policies aimed at discouraging undesirable behaviors.

*smoke a cig and think.*

YES. maintaining current attitudes still counts as "social engineering".
hi jess, hope you are having a good holiday season.

[Jody]

No, the toys are not a societal tool of manipulation at all. Rather consumers are dictating their preferences (and weaknesses).

The displays, advertising and packaging are simply marketing techniques aimed at the majority of consumers (including kids looking and asking for certain toys over others) and it's statistically effective.

If the toy companies thought for a second they could sell more toys using different pictures on the boxes, or different colors, or having toys combined in a girl-boy aisle; they would do it in heartbeat. It's all about the money.